Method of treating ore.



useful Improvement in Methods'of Treating. Ore, of which the following is a specification.-

, Y STATES JoHN 'r. JoNEs, or IRON Mo NTAIN, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR on ONE-HALF P TENT; OFFICE;

CLAIR, OF DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

METHOD OF T EATING can.

Applicatio'n filed December 23, 1907. Serial No. 407,770.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that'I, JOHN T. JoN'Es,-a citizen ofv the United States, residing at Iron Mountain, in the county of Dickinson and State of Michigan, have invented a new and The object of my invention is to provide a novel method of treating, by furnace-opera- "tion, ore containing iron, zinc-and sulfur as its principal constituents; and I have more especially devised my invention for thetreatment of a certain ore containing about 31 per-cent. iron, about 17 per cent. zinc, about per cent. sufur, and about 5. to 7 per cent. silica. The treatment consists, generore, containing hereinafter described.

ally stated, in subjecting successively the ore to heat sufficient to burn out the sulfurbut insufiicient to volatilize the zinc, and the remainder of the ore to a higher degree of heat sufiioient to volatilize the zinc, which is carried OE and condensed, the remnant of the iron and earthy materia'l, coming down in the furnace-stack, under the action of the heat, in the form of matte, which may bedisposed of in the manner The accompanying drawing'shows, by a broken view in sectional elevation, a furnaceequipment suitable for the practice of my invention? i side of a hill for the erection of two furnace- 5 suitable fuel,- on a grate 4 in the .fuinace-' chamber above an air-blast opening 5 in the I '7 to extend parallel with an ore-stack 8 rising from a foundation 9 toa heig t of one huh-- I municates, leading, thereto about midway between'the portion of the structures 1 and 2. The upper structure 1 consists of a carbonaceous-fuehburning-furnace 3, adapted to burn soft-coal, as the most chamber-wall, below which is indicated a conveyer 6 for-carrying off the ashes. This fuelfurnace is supported on a suitable foundation f off from the upper portion of the fuel-bed by upper and lower oint the gases from the lower the heat below it, are drawn through the flue into thestack 8. This stack and the furnace 'ro GEORGE A, Sr.

3 may be constructed of or lined with suitable brick, preferably of the magnesite va riety, but the neck 10 is best made of carbona ceous material to adapt it to resist the destructive tendency of the heat from the gases mixing in and coursing through it, the material Iiprefer to employ for the purpose being blocks of. graphite carbon, or a mixture of pulverized graphite and coke with a suitable binder, as coal-tar, compacted by hydraulic pressure to solidify the mass-and then baked to harden it. t I

From the open lower end of the ore-stack a chute 11', having a hingedvalve 12 interposed in it; inclines downwardly to discharge into a hopper 13 surmounting the upper end of the relatively short ore-stack 14 of the structure 2, formed like the stac'k8, and communicating from between itsv ends through aflueforming neck 15, with the chamber of a fuelfurnace 16 of this last-named structure, this furnace being in all particulars, by prefer- 'ence, like and operating the same as the In the wall of the stack 14 oppo' furnace 3. site that it-h which the flue 15 connects, and

alining w th the flue, is provided a dischargeopening 17 leading to a conduit 18, which inclines upwardly along the hill-side, at an t v Y angle of, say, about 45 degrees, and may be a For carrying out my invention to the bestadvantage, a site should be selected on the conduit, which contains normally 'closedopenings 19- at suitable intervals apart throughout its length, may best be formed of a net-work ofwire embedded in concrete and molded in sections of cylindrical or other desired shape. stack is open'to an inclined chute 20 leading The lower end 'of'the voref down the hill tozany desired point to which "it is desired to deliver theremnant of the treated ore. p

The procedure is asfollowsz' With the fire burning in the furnace 3, and supplied with combustion-promoting air through a port 22, and the stack fiiled, to the closed valve 12,

with theore to betreated, the hot gasespass- 'ing through the flue 10 into the stack and upward therein through the intersticial column of ore, burn-out the sulfur-constituent of the ore, the heat being regulated to an intensity only sufficient to drive oif'thesulfunand this sulfur-burning action being supplemented by the admission of air into the stack through a 85 thousand feet, more or less, in length. This port 21 near its base From time to time, on o ening the valve 12, the sulfur-freed ore at t e base of the stack is permitted to fall through the chute 11 to charge the stack 14 therewith. The hot ore in this stack is subjected to the action of the gases from the furnace 16, passing into the stack through the flue I 15 at a temperature of from about twenty-two hundred to twenty-five hundred degrees F., which is sufficient to volatilize the zinc-constituent of the ore, the fumes of which pass through the restricted outlet 17 into the conduit 18 and become condensed in their course through the latter dropping to time through the openings 19.

therein in the form of flakes, the accummulations of which may be withdrawn from time The 1 remainder of the ore, containing iron and earthy material reduced by the heat to matteform, falls down the chute 20 to the point of delivery, whence it may be taken for use as a flux after treating it in-known manner, if it then volatilize the zinc, and

zinc by condensation.

2. The method of treating ore containing sulfur, zinc and iron, which consists in first subjecting said ore, to the action of gases from carbonaceous fuel at a temperature recovering the suflicient to burn out the sulfur but insufficient to volatilize the zinc, then subjectingthe sulfur-freed ore to the action of similar gases at a higher temperature suflicient to volatilize the zinc, and condensing the zincfumes, for the purpose set forth.

3. The method of .treating ore containing sulfur, zinc and iron, which consists in first subjecting said ore to the action of gases from carbonaceous ,fuel at a temperature sufiicient to burn out the sulfur but insufficient to volatilize the zinc, and introducing air into the ore to enhance the burning of the sulfur, then subjecting the sulfur-freed ore to the action of similar gases at a higher temperature suflicient to volatilize the zinc but insufficient to melt the iron, condensing the zinc-fumes to recover the zinc, and saving the iron-containing remnant ofthe ore.

. JOHNT JONES. In presence of Y K. M. CORNWALL, 4 R. A. SGHAEFER. 

